This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
I am registered gestalt psychotherapist and supervisor with the UKCP (UK Council for Psychotherapy).
We are still living in very uncertain times and there is much understandable anxiety, overwhelm, depression, sadness, grief and anger. All this can take its toll in ways we might not have predicted. As you read this, you may be looking for a little more support for whatever brings you to therapy at this time.
Over the last decade, I have worked in a hospice, in a voluntary counselling agency, in the NHS, and in the mental health charity MIND, as a volunteer and in free-lance paid work. I now have a Private Practice welcoming adults, couples, and students and am also a supervisor and trainer of psychotherapy. I offer a safe, confidential, caring, supportive and non-judgemental space to explore whatever brings you to therapy. I offer short term work (6-12 weeks), work with EAPs (Employment Assistant Programmes) and longer term work. With travel becoming increasingly expensive, and increased flexible working after Covid-19, I offer both in-person and telephone or online sessions.
At the heart of my practice is the unique relationship which forms between client and therapist as a potential for growth. ‘Gestalt’ means pattern, constellation or whole, and as a gestalt therapist, I am interested in the shapes and patterns you bring as well as the ones which will start to take shape in therapy. In this way, this is a bespoke therapy and flexible. The beauty and joy of this approach enables change, however small, to support you to live life more hopefully for yourself and in relationship with others. It is a mutually enriching experience.
My training and experience can also support moments in therapy when words may be difficult by engaging creative approaches. This doesn’t mean you have to create something that has to be a certain way. Rather, an image for example may emerge which you might feel drawn to work with, and for which the significance may become clearer as we work together. This approach can support clients who may be feeling anxious, overwhelmed, sad or depressed. It can also be helpful in supporting choice, and in developing a surer sense of self; for safely working with challenging relationship issues (in the past or present); for creating life-lines to understand life-changes (e.g. divorce/separation/retirement/identity issues/ bereavement and loss); and in working with traumatic moments or life-events. Equally, it can support discovering something new as a spur to growth and healing. Some clients coming to the end of therapy have commented on how this approach helped them identify and remember pivotal moments (‘hidden treasures’) in therapy which offered them comfort at the time, provided moments of inspiration and insight along the way, helping to develop and embed ongoing coping strategies and /or envisioning possibility for the future. It is important to offer choice in all parts of therapy and to work in a way and at the pace which feels right for you.
More about me
For 35 years I taught music and creative arts in schools, colleges and universities. As I began to be curious about psychology and the arts this led me to further study and eventually to qualifying and registering as a UKCP Gestalt Psychotherapist. Just as I found working alongside young people, whatever their backgrounds and experiences on their journeys of transformation, I also find working as a therapist equally rewarding. It was a natural transition for me.
Now retired from my full-time job in Higher Education, I currently work in Private Practice. I am also a supervisor and a course tutor on the Relational Gestalt Diploma at the Scarborough Counselling and Psychotherapy Training Institute (SCPTI). I enjoy working with clients as well as counsellors /psychotherapists in training.
Having worked in education for many years, I understand the pressures and challenges of working and studying in educational environments from a staff and student perspective. I bring this to my work as a therapist.
Training, qualifications & experience
My training commenced in 2004. My qualifications and experience are summarised here:
- External Moderator (GPTI)
- Course Tutor- Diploma in Relational Gestalt Psychotherapy Scarborough Counselling &Psychotherapy Institute (SCPTI) (2021-)
- Supervisor (Clinical and Academic) UKCP (2021 - )
- UKCP Registered Gestalt Psychotherapist (2019)
- Diploma in Gestalt Psychotherapy (SCPTI) (2018)
- Certificate of Training (GPTI) Manchester Gestalt Centre (2010)
- Diploma in the Therapeutic and Educational Application of the Arts (IATE/Middlesex University) (2006)
- PhD (Developmental Psychology, Music, Education) University of Leicester (1999)
My Professional Membership and Insurance includes:
- UKCP Registered Psychotherapist (Registration Number 2011169229) working within the UKCP Code of Ethics
- GPTI (Gestalt Psychotherapy Training Institute) Friend Member
- UKAGP (United Kingdom Association of Gestalt Psychotherapists) Full Member
- Professional Civil Liability Insurance (current)
Recent and ongoing CPD includes:
- Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (2022-4)
- Creative Gestalt Relating (2023)
- Psychopathology of the Situation in Gestalt Therapy (2022-3) Segreteria Istituto di Gestalt HCC Italy
- 'Tell Me The Truth About Love (2022) Tavistock Clinic Webinar
- Associate Teaching Membership (ATM) Programme (2019-21)
- Diploma in Supervision (SCPTI) (2019- 21 ) UKCP Accredited
- The Ecology of Trauma - Relational Change (2018)
- Compassion Focussed Therapy- York, MIND (2017)
- Trauma Reflections: Clinical Practice and the Relational Field- Relational Change (2016)
- Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction-The Northern Centre for Mindfulness and Compassion (2016)
Whilst working at York St John University, I was also involved with Converge – Music (https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/converge/ ) a provision offering quality education to adults who access mental health services in the city and supporting a greater understanding of mental health for all involved. I have also worked in a hospice, in a voluntary counselling organisation (1-2-1), in IAPT in the NHS, and in York MIND which has given me experience of working with clients and carers to include anxiety, depression, bereavement and loss, life-changes, identity issues, trauma, PTSD, bordeline diagnosis, dissociative identity disorder. A diagnosis is never the whole story that a client brings; acknowledging this always feels important in each therapeutic journey.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£45.00 - £60.00
Concessions offered for
Additional information
Individual Therapy : £55 for a 50 minute session.
(Reduced rate of £50 for students on counselling /psychotherapy training courses).
Supervision: I also offer individual and/ or group supervision at £60 per hour
(Reduced rate of £55 for students on counselling /psychotherapy training courses).
I offer discounts for those on low income/key workers
When I work
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Weekdays and Evenings
Further information
Availability and Access
I offer sessions on weekdays / evenings in York which take place in a dedicated room with a private entrance. This a light and airy room overlooking a private garden on the ground floor. Parking is free and easily available on a quiet culdesac. I am on a regular bus route from York City Centre (no 4)
I also work online as well as in person
How to contact me
To arrange an initial conversation you can either email or telephone me. From here we can arrange a mutually convenient time to meet either in -person or online.
Click her to send me an email mobile: 07981381510
